Terms and conditions of use
With this charming boor’s consent, may I dance the next rigadoon with you Madame?
(Avec l'Agrement de cet Agreable Muf'e)
(1841)
from the Les débardeurs (The dock workers) series, first published in Le Charivari, 1840-43
Medium
hand-coloured lithograph
Measurements
19.7 × 15.8 cm (image) 34.7 × 25.8 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1946
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This lithograph captures an exchange between three women, two of whom are dressed in men’s attire. Dressed as a débardeur (dock worker), one woman playfully asks another to dance, satirising the rituals of polite society by also formally requesting permission from her ‘gentleman’ companion. While masked balls emboldened revellers to indulge in a measure of social license unknown to their everyday lives, this freedom had its limits. The Paris police were known to charge attendees dancing ‘indecently’ with violating public conduct laws.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Catalogue/s Raisonné
Armelhault and Bocher 536 LIX. II
Printing/Publishing
printed by Aubert & Cie, Paris
Inscription
printed in ink (in image) l.l.: 362 (reversed)
printed in ink u.c.: LES DEBARDEURS
printed in ink u.r.: 59
printed in ink l.l.: Chez Aubert gal. Véro-Dodat
printed in ink l.c.: Par Gavarni
printed in ink l.r.: Imp. d'Aubert & Cie (“ under ie)
printed in ink l.l.: Avec l'agrément de cet agréable muf'e là, pourraît-on, Madame, pincer / avec toi le prochain rigodon?
printed in ink l.c.l.: Se vend chez Bauger & Cie, Editeurs des Dessins de la CARICATURE du FIGARO et du CHARIVARI, R. du Croissant 16.
Accession Number
1584-4
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest